Partners
by writeallnight
Summary: A one-shot that takes place after Chinese Box. David's off to the hospital with a miserable Colby tagging along. A story about the friendship between the two partners.


This story takes place right as "Chinese Box" is ending. The entire end of the episode ends up being about Don and Liz and nobody bothers to mention how David is doing! Hello! He was kind of trapped in an elevator for the whole episode! Anywho, this is what I think could have happened.

PS: I don't own Numb3rs as much I might wish to :)

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Colby felt his heart pounding as he took the gun from David's hand and slipped him a set of handcuffs. He wanted to cuff the guy himself and then punch his lights out but:

A) That was completely against protocol and

B) He was fairly certain it would screw up Charlie's whole box thing.

He began to back away slowly, never taking his eyes off his partner who was now cuffing Ben Blakely, the man who'd been holding him hostage for nearly six hours. Colby tensed as they moved out of the elevator. He was terrified that some member of SWAT was going to get trigger happy and bring the whole place down. He knew David, if somebody killed Blakely his partner was going to blame himself.

Colby watched as his boss moved slowly toward his partner. Don reached out and gently took hold of the man responsible for his partner's captivity. "I got him, David," he said quietly. "How ya doing Mr. Blakely?"

"I've been better," the man said, his voice shaky.

"Well let's see if we can't go sort some of this out," Don looked at David. "I got him buddy, you can let go."

David finally met his boss's eyes. "Right, sorry," he released his hold on the man.

"All right, stand down, everybody stand down," Don said, holding up a hand.

Slowly the group of agents and SWAT began to relax their positions. Colby finally took his finger off the trigger and straightened fully, running a hand through his hair. He began to move toward his partner but Megan and Liz returned at that moment and got to him first. Megan hugged him and then held him at arm's length. "Are you all right?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm okay," David said tiredly. "I'm all right, Megan. I just need to catch my breath."

"Well, sit down or something. We'll be right back. We have to go turn this stuff in."

Colby nodded as the ladies walked past him. Megan paused to squeeze his arm reassuringly, for which he was grateful. At last he reached his partner. Their eyes met and Colby pulled him, unashamedly, into a hug. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," David said hoarsely. "You okay?"

Colby laughed incredulously. "You were just held at gunpoint in an elevator for six hours, and you're asking me if I'm okay?"

"Well you tend to get a little emotionally involved in this kind of thing," David replied.

"I get emotionally involved? Look who's talking!"

David laughed and then coughed. "You all right?" Colby asked, putting a hand on his partner's back."

"Yeah, yeah I'm good," David said, "I just-"

With that David's eyes rolled back into his head and his knees buckled. Colby managed to get a hold on him and lower him to the floor. "David? David! Don!" he yelled when there was no response.

Colby ripped open his partner's shirt, swearing at what he saw. Don ran over and knelt beside him, taking in the senior agent's labored breathing and sweaty face. "What happened?"

"He's hit," Colby said tersely, feeling for a pulse.

"Hey, get a medic over here!" Don yelled.

David groaned and tried to sit up. Colby gripped his shoulder. "Take it easy buddy. You've been shot."

"It didn't penetrate," David gasped, continuing to struggle.

"Hey, relax," Don told him. "David, David, listen to me. You were shot at close range, you could have broken ribs. You're getting checked out."

Don's tone said it was final. David laid his head back on the floor, his breathing heavy as the medics began their examination. Colby stood and rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Hey, hey," Don made Colby look him in the eye, "no big deal, it's a couple of cracked ribs. He's gonna be okay, hey, do you hear me? He'll be fine."

Colby nodded miserably. His best friend was lying on the floor in pain and he could do nothing. "Get your gear off, go with him, then take him home. I don't care if he gets the okay from the doctor, take him home. I don't need to see either one of you back here today, got it?" Don asked him.

There was no response. "Colby!" he said sharply.

Colby's head snapped up. "You got it?" Don asked again.

"Yeah, yeah I'll follow him," Colby said, as he began to un-strap his extra padding.

He waited until they had placed his partner on a gurney and then headed out to his FBI issued car to follow the ambulance.

By the time he had parked at the hospital David had already been taken into an examination room. Colby sank wearily into one of the molded plastic chairs and rubbed his eyes. What a mess. This should never have happened. What had David been thinking, getting into that elevator; completely shattering every protocol? And freakin' SWAT. This could have been over hours ago if they'd only listened to Charlie. Well, he'd never make that mistake again.

Half an hour turned into an hour. Finally a nurse approached him. "Agent Granger?"

He stood quickly. "Yeah, I'm Colby Granger."

"I can take you back to see your partner now."

Colby followed the young woman down the hall. "How is he?"

"He's doing fine. He has two cracked ribs and he was severely dehydrated. That along with the stress of his situation is probably what caused his loss of consciousness. We're giving him some fluids but we're not going to admit him. He really just needs to rest."

She stopped and indicated the door next to her. "He's right in here."

"Thanks." Colby pushed open the door. "Hey buddy. How ya feeling?"

"How's Blakely?" David asked tiredly.

Colby shook his head. "You're lying in a hospital and the first thing you ask me is how the man who just held you hostage for six hours is doing?"

David chuckled and then sucked in a breath and shifted his position uncomfortably. Colby moved to help him. "Take it easy buddy."

"Yeah, thanks," David said.

"You look…awful," Colby told him plainly.

"Yeah, I've been better."

He was half sitting, half lying on the table, his shirt off, his ribcage wrapped in bandages. Two IV's were dripping fluid into his veins and Colby could tell he had a headache from the way he was squinting. "All in all, not one of my better days, huh?" David asked.

Colby chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah, mine either."

He took a seat on a stool. "What the hell were you thinking?" he asked finally.

"I was thinking that I had a job to do. And that I couldn't just let an innocent person get hurt," David paused and looked at his partner. "What would you have done?"

Colby sighed. "The same thing. You did a good thing in there man. I just wish it could have been done differently."

"You and me both. Hey, thanks for saving my tail in there today," David said.

"Are you kidding? I didn't do anything of any value for you today."

"What are you talking about?" David asked. "I distinctly remember your voice yelling 'cease fire' and then the slamming of the emergency hatch."

"If I'd been better at my job they wouldn't have been shooting into the elevator at all," Colby said with a shake of his head. "SWAT just didn't listen."

"Colby, it all worked out fine. This wasn't anybody's fault other than Blakely's. You know that. You did what you could and you probably saved me from getting a bullet in the brain."

"I'm glad you can take comfort from the little things," Colby said sarcastically. "I guess we did learn one thing from today though."

"What's that?"

"Never doubt Charlie."

David smiled. "That's the truth."

The doctor chose that moment to make an appearance. "How are you feeling Agent Sinclair?" he asked.

"Better."

"Well, you're looking pretty good here," the doctor said as he checked the monitors. "I think we're going to let you get out of this place."

"Thanks Doc."

"Now listen here Agent," the doctor said firmly, "I know your kind. You go home and _rest_. Take a couple days off, get some sleep. Do not go back to the office. That being said if you have extreme chest pain or difficulty breathing you come right back in. Got it?"

"We'll take good care of him Doc," Colby said.

"See that you do. Dana here is going to get you all checked out. We're going to get you a prescription for the pain but other than that just keep eating and drinking, especially drinking. You need to stay hydrated. Not beer," he said knowingly.

"Aw way to hit a man when he's down," David said with a smile.

Colby helped his partner very slowly into the car. David let his head fall back against the head rest and let out a breath. "Not a good day," he muttered.

"Well there's always tomorrow," Colby said as they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway.

"Where are we going?" David asked after a moment.

Colby looked at him strangely. "What do you mean, where are we going?"

"Seemed like a pretty straightforward question to me," David said.

"Okay, then we're going to your apartment."

David frowned. "Why?"

Now Colby looked worried. "Did Blakely hit you in the head? Because you live there. It's where all your stuff is, remember?"

"I know what my apartment is," David said with a roll of his eyes. "Why are we going there as opposed to the office?"

"Oh no. No, no, no," Colby said shaking his head. "The doctor says you're going home and so does Don and so do I. Don't even try and trick me into going back to the office."

"We have paperwork to do," David offered in a last ditch attempt to turn the car around.

Colby rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like that was going to get me to turn around."

"Well it was worth a try."

Colby glared at his partner. "Shut up and take a nap."

"Yes Mom."

* * *

"Yeah, he's sleeping now Don. I think he's okay for tonight. I'll stay a little longer and try to get him to eat something. How are things on your end?"

David opened his eyes slowly and suppressed the urge to groan. His head was pounding and every muscle in his body ached.

"What are they going to charge him with?" he heard Colby ask from the other room.

David squinted at the clock on his nightstand. 7:13. He'd been out for nearly two hours. What the heck was Colby still doing here?

He slid himself off the edge of the bed and this time couldn't stop the groan that escaped his lips. He heard Colby stand. "Don? I'll call you back."

Colby met David at the door to his bedroom. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm all right," David replied, moving past him to collapse on the couch. "What are you still doing here?"

"'Taking care of you."

David smiled and shook his head. "You hungry?" Colby asked as he walked to the kitchen.

"I could eat," David decided.

He paused a moment then asked, "What's going on with Blakely?"

"Don says they're charging him for assaulting two federal officers, but he thinks they can get the attempted murder charge dropped if he testifies about DeVane."

David sighed with relief. "Good. What's for dinner?"

"I ran to the deli and got soup and sandwiches."

He came back with both along with a glass of water for David and a beer for himself. David frowned at his partner. "That's cold man."

"What?" Colby asked innocently.

"Drinking my beer, in my house, right in front of me when you know I'm not allowed to have any."

"Yeah well, if the shoe was on the other foot you'd be drinking my beer so…" Colby let the rest of the sentence hang.

"Ain't that the truth," David said, raising his glass in a toast.

Colby met it with his bottle and they tucked into their meal. After a moment David looked up. "Wanna watch Mythbusters?"

Colby raised his eyebrows. "Do you even have to ask?"

The TV came on and both were immediately drawn in by the loud explosions and flying dummies. Colby finally looked at hi partner during a commercial break. "I'm really glad you're okay, David."

David smiled. "Yeah me too."

"By the way, you're out of beer."

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Any and all reviews are appreciated! Thanks for reading!


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